


Backup

by fairytalehearts



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU: John Diggle is the Arrow, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4793207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairytalehearts/pseuds/fairytalehearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on RebelWanderlust's <a href="http://rebelwanderlust.tumblr.com/post/128197528239/olicity-fanfic-idea">prompt</a> on Tumblr: Diggle is the Arrow, Oliver is the Soldier, and Felicity is the Argus Agent. So, basically Diggle and Lyla switch story lines with Oliver and Felicity</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oliver Queen, SEAL Team Six

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote two chapters of this and if this how the prompter likes it, I'll continue.
> 
> In this fic, DEADSHOT is the big bad and after killing Andy, he captured John and basically played cat and mouse with him for five years on Lian Yu. This story picks up 2 years after he's returned.

**2015**

 

Upon waking up on the island from hell, Oliver had been shot at, almost died on a landmine and drank potentially poisoned water in order to survive. He did not plan on dying on an island and he might have started to panic a little. The familiar weight of his gun in the back of his pants was missing, as was the knife he kept in his boots. Things were not looking good for either of them.

John should be panicking too. But he was- oddly calm, “Before we left, I called for backup.”

Oliver frowned, accessing the area around them for hostiles. Diggle had wanted to come to this godforsaken island, and now they were here hunting a madman who had apparently made the island his home. There were also other crazy killers on the loose and while they had managed to blow up his ship off the island, they were also stuck there with him. Wishing he had a weapon, he ducked and rolled across the ground not liking the new vantage point any better. Trees and more trees.

They were a two-man team, there was no backup. “Who exactly did you call?” Oliver bit out finally, not in the mood to chit-chat.

“There are three numbers on your cell phone: Me and Your Sister, weren’t going to help- so I called the third one.”

Oliver looked to his partner, his friend and said _Fuck_ so loudly he probably gave away their position to the hostile.

**

**2013**

 

Oliver checked the slip of paper again, the location and time scribbled on the of yellow paper. His newest client was late and waiting outside for the infamous Mr. Diggle was not something he had the patience for.

He hears the gun hammer from 15 feet to his left, the abandoned building that faced north.

Going for the gun on his ankle, he pretended to tie his shoe before rolling under his SUV and heading into the building. It was dark, but he could hear someone moving around.

Ducking behind the old silo, he made sure he stayed hidden. The voiced echoed throughout the old warehouse, “You’re the best they’ve got? How old are you? 20?”

Oliver frowned, “I’m 26. You’ve read my file before accepting my employment.”

“Three tours in Iraq, Master in Weapons Training, First in your class at West Point. Youngest recruit into SEAL Team Six since its inception. Your file had so many blacked out things I could barely read it, kid. Most of it was in Russian. Impress me and you’ve got the gig.”

“What gig? I grew up in Starling and this whole J.D., Inc. is not a real thing.” Oliver knew he had to keep him talking if he was gonna sneak up on him to get his gun.

Movement to his left, he slinked down the back wall- cursing when he felt the muzzle hovering near his back.

“An assassin killed my brother. That assassin found me, dropped me on an island to die and the Wit Sec program landed me here five years later. I don’t need a bodyguard, I need your help with my cover.”

Reaching around to grab the gun, he got it out of John’s hands, ejected the clip and then drew his own weapon on him, “You don’t need _me_ for that. Don’t pull a weapon on me unless you want to get shot.”

Diggle flipped the light switch on behind him, revealing a workshop of patched together equipment, computer monitors and- an arsenal. Oliver was sure one of the Wit Sec agreements was to not mount a one man war, but Mr. Diggle was apparently bad at listening.

“I’m going after the asshole that killed my brother and to do that he needs to think that I’m behaving. You’re a Queen, your mother owned half of the city before she died and I need your help. Are you in?”

Oliver looked at the horrible setup, his hand pausing on a bow, “A Bow? Really?”

“Wait ‘til you see the hood.” Diggle held his arm out, and Oliver shook it.

**

**2015**

Oliver heard the telltale signs of a chopper and grabbed John’s pants to stop him before he gave away their position. His swearing didn’t help things but if this Deadshot person was smart he’d head for the river and wait for them to get thirsty. They had a tactical advantage near the ocean.

“What are you doing? That’s the cavalry.”

“She won’t need to see us.” Oliver grumbled holding his elbow up, the tiny drone weaving its way through the trees to latch on to the metal wristband he still wore on his wrist.

The chopper was another drone projecting the noise that hopefully Deadshot would follow, leaving them plenty of time for them to escape via the sea.

Diggle was not as impressed by her biometric searching device as most were, he mainly just looked confused, “What the fuck is that?”

“You’re the one who called me.” Felicity’s defensive voice came from the mic she had attached the end of the drone.

He had not seen Felicity in three years, seven months, fourteen days and give or take three hours. His last image of her was her blonde hair behind a glass door, her face in tears as he walked out of ARGUS, her tablet still in her hands.

He had asked her to leave with him, when his contract was done.

She declined. And he never did get the ring back.

The drone started heading back for the ship, Oliver following it to the tree line, eying the direct drop into the ocean. It had to be at least 200 feet. Tucking his cellphone into his waterproof jacket pouch, he took a running leap off the cliff and into the cold water.

John followed in suit, treading after him. Coming up for air, they were finally a safe distance away when he saw the drone disappear into nothingness. Paddling to where it stopped, there was a static-like noise which revealed Felicity waiting, gun aimed at the cliff they had just jumped from.

Feeling the side of the sub he pulled himself up and turned around to help John, Felicity tuning the cloaking device back on.

“Welcome to The Mermaid.” Oliver remarked, unimpressed. John kept banging his feet on the hull, and while it still looked like they were standing on nothing, it was definitely a nuclear submarine.

Felicity didn’t bother with introductions, walking up to him and yanking his arm towards her body. Their lips crushed together. The kiss was short. Direct. To the point. Much like their relationship.

“Whoa. Did I die on that island because- whoa.” John looked between the two of them.

Just because he did not sleep with half of the women in Starling did not mean he was gay. John had asked him numerous times if he was seeing someone, probably to assuage his guilt from being with Lyla, to which he did not respond.

It would be a little hard to explain to them that he was married and her name was tattooed over his heart with the date of their wedding. He supposed he could lie and say she died but even then, he couldn’t do that to her even if they were separated.

They walked the length of the sub to the hatch, following Felicity down the narrow stairs.  Once they were inside and the sub was descending he looked between the man he considered a friend and his wife.

“John Diggle- Felicity Smoak. My wife.” Oliver removed his wet clothes and took the sweats out of the storage cupboard, dropping trou in front of the two of them so he could warm up.

Diggle’s hesitation was duly noted, “You’re married?”

“-And you’re the Arrow. Welcome to ARGUS.” Felicity put her arm out as if she was showing off her home. The Mermaid was a class 1 submarine complete with automated defense systems, cloaking technology and an army of drones she liked to call the “School”.

It was a one-man sub that was a technological marvel- she had built the thing from scratch.

“When a superhero calls for backup to an island in the South China Sea you tend to pick up the SAT phone.” Felicity babbled, handing a similar pair of sweats to John. “We should be back in Starling in seventeen hours and I’d be happy to tell you all the embarrassing stories about Ollie you’d like.”

“There are no embarrassing stories.” Oliver reassured his friend, making sure to turn around and glare at him to show his disdain for their current predicament. She motioned to the state rooms and handed Digg the phone.

“There’s a very angry woman who keeps calling the White House, demanding that we find out which terrorists have you for ransom. CEO’s don’t go missing in China very often without their COO’s finding out.”

The two of them chime, “Lyla” and Digg leaves him alone. With her. Which is when the claws came out. Literally. She liked to punch him when she was upset.

“I. Can’t. Believe. You. Didn’t. Call!”

Her half-hearted smacks to the arm were cute- but annoying. He didn’t owe her anything and her little rescue mission was just going to be an unfortunate segue into ARGUS getting into John’s business.  Which was not going to happen. They were helping people, really helping the city and if ARGUS wanted to help Starling they would. The same thing went for Felicity and fixing their relationship.

She lived at most 19.6 miles away from him.

And she was the world’s best hacker, it wouldn’t be hard to find him.

“I can’t do this right now, Felicity. The caring wife card you’re trying to pull isn’t even in your deck.”

Lyla was a problem. He had told John over and over again that getting involved with his operations manager was a mistake. Her head for business was only rivaled with her love for John and while he thought things were causal that was not going to be the case for long.

She loved him and that was dangerous to the mission.

He was so engrossed with thoughts on John’s relationship he didn’t see Felicity’s open palm coming towards his face until too late.

“Damnit, Felicity!” Oliver swore, grabbing her wrist before she could reel back and hit him again. “What could you possibly have to say?”

“I miss you, you asshole.”

Oliver really doesn’t understand how it happens, but her legs are around his hips and his pants are down before they even make it into her room.

He missed her too.

**

**2008**

West Point provided structure he needed in his life- he learned to lead and follow. It turned out he wasn’t half bad at anything if he really tried and being asked to join SEALs was an honor. So when the boys upstairs ask you to do something you did it. He hadn’t been to the States in over five years and landing on U.S. soil stirred up something almost patriotic for him.

He had a three years left in his tour but they shortened it down to one if he went and headed up security for some new faction of the government called ARGUS.

He learned quickly that they did not need security, they needed a gopher.

His third assignment was to get some Computer genius out of MIT before she got hired by Merlyn Global. He had met the Merlyns before his father got custody and moved him to Virginia- they had a boy about his age and a girl the same age as Thea.

The picture they gave him was a dark-haired girl who wore too much eyeliner and he was definitely not looking forward to this particular snatch and coerce. Knocking on the door, a blonde answered. Funny he didn’t remember his dossier saying she had a roommate, “Is Ms. Smoak home?”

“I’m Ms. Smoak, but I go by Felicity.”

She had dimples that made his knees go weak. That’s the only thing he remembered from the whole conversation is the way she smiled at him. He still didn’t know how he convinced her to join ARGUS but the next week she was running their tech division and they would eat lunch in the mess together and he’d laugh. He missed laughing.

There were a million reasons why they wouldn’t work out. He was damaged goods. She was sunshine and rainbows. He didn’t know how to be a human being anymore after the war and it’s not like he was good at relating to other people let alone being in a relationship with a woman.

Killing people was one of his areas of expertise and he didn’t want to do that anymore. The whole time they were together he thought of the hundreds of thousands of reasons they wouldn’t work out.

He didn’t think it would be because _she_ left _him._

**

**2015**

John was waiting for him when he came out of Felicity’s room pants-less. In his defense he was coming to get them, but he didn’t think his friend cared about that particular detail.

The chair he had dragged from the sickbay was perched on two legs and he looked- giddy. He had known John for two years and had not once seen him _giddy_.

“You and I are gonna have a long chat about what just happened. And don’t pull that ‘there’s only two beds’ crap.” John sat the chair down and tossed his pants at him.

By his best guess they still had another eight hours before they got back to Starling. Which meant John was going to get his long awaited ‘get to know you’ chat. He could start with his parents’ divorce- which was easily google-able or his career at West Point before his somewhat shocking and scandalous transfer into the SEALs program.

Oliver pulled his pants back on and motioned for John to follow him towards the mess.

He stashed the good stuff underneath the microwave cart and procured two coffee mugs from the pantry.

The bottle was dusty and still unopened. A strange feeling of pride crept over him at that fact. No one else had been in their sacred space and that meant- something to him. Maybe vows and rings did matter in the long run.

“I will answer your questions but not in detail and I am never speaking of this again so make it count.”

John opened the bottle and took a healthy swallow before pouring some into the mugs. He turned the one mug around that read “FS + OQ”.

“I’ll start off easy: Explain this.”

**

**2010**

Oliver didn’t get much by the way of instructions, he was told where to go and what to bring and for the most part he was okay with his job. He had a place at ARGUS and that place was with Felicity. He was honorably discharged from the SEALs and started his new contract with ARGUS.

This time he wasn’t the lowest one on the totem pole, he had his own totem pole.

Project Mermaid was Top Secret and after reviewing security protocols with his team, they headed to the U.S.S. Anchorage for a long-term mission of undetermined length.

He had secretly hoped to stay on base in Starling to oversee the security of Felicity’s unit, but that was a dream he kept to himself. He had always liked being out on the open water and when he got his bunk assignment, he stared at the blank piece of paper and went to find the XO.

Frowning at men looking overboard, Felicity stared up at them in her aviator sunglasses.

It looked like she was standing on the water.

“Finally. Queen let’s go, we’ve got a submarine to test!”

The XO handed him his new assignment: Private Security and (Classified) Test. Oliver threw his bags over the side and frowned when they hit metal.

Using his feet to slide down the slide down the ladder, the Anchorage’s engines started up leaving the two of them standing on the hull of an invisible submarine in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“Hi!”

“Hi?” Oliver frowned accepting the hug from her, “What exactly is going on?”

“I built an invisible submarine and we need to test it for the next year. I told them I needed the best man they had for the job and then they sent me you. I mean you were a SEAL you can drive a submarine. God knows I can’t do that. I could probably hack a submarine-”

Stopping herself from her own tangent, Felicity kicked a panel on the hull and the hatch opened. She grabbed his hand and talked about the med bay and the mess and the nuclear reactor before ending the tour at the end of a hallway. Twisting the door level through the airlock, a full-size bedroom was occupying the space of three standard rooms in a sub.

“There’s only one bed, is that going to be a problem?” Felicity was biting her lip and looking up at him and his head shook ‘no’ before his mouth could say ‘yes’.

The days on the sub were the best of his life.

The sub navigated itself, they drove right through enemy territory and not a peep. Felicity tried to jazz up the rations they were provided and they took reports on sea creatures that had never been seen before.

There were some days he didn’t even bother getting dressed. They spent their days doing research, teaching her how to drive the submarine. They spent their nights tangled up in her sheets while he learned about her body.

Blushing, Oliver padded to the mess to bring Felicity some water and smirked looking at the mugs in his hand. “FS+OQ”. It was more than a mug, it meant something. There had never been an opportunity for anyone to monogram his name onto a mug. And she bought _twelve_ even before their trip.

Being loved was not a new concept, but it was new to him. And he wanted to hold on to it as long as possible. He was technically the captain of the ship and if things went according to plan they’d be married within the month.

Then in a year when their contracts were up they could cash their government checks and do things like brunch and mimosas, then maybe have some kids. They’d both in security, he the muscle, she the IT extraordinaire and he’d have his happy ending he never knew he wanted with the woman he loved.

**

**2015**

 “Something tells me that you’re not being exactly truthful.” John pointed out.

“Whatever you say, _Digg_.” Oliver slurred using the nickname his friend hated. Little did he know, Felicity was standing behind them in the entryway to Mess. Her hair was a sloppy bun, and she was wearing one of his old t-shirts and no pants.

“Come. Come sit with us!” Oliver held his arm out and Felicity sat down next to them.

“Oliver’s a nice drunk, if you hadn’t caught that particular tidbit.” Felicity informed _Digg_ as she sat down and took away his cup. He was also a horny drunk but was-wasn’t going to share that with _Digg_. She downed the rest of the contents and made a sour face before allowing him to rest his arm around her back.

“He also can’t hold his liquor apparently.” _Digg_ pointed out, swirling the liquid in his cup before swallowing. “He’s kind of a hardass. Now tell me, Mrs. Queen, why does ARGUS need a submarine?”

Felicity tells him it’s classified because she was a company tool now and probably ate brunch with Waller while they discussed the best way to skirt government spying laws.

“Ollie likes to think about how I wronged him, so I’m going to tell you how it really happened. And then when we get to Starling you’re going to bring him in for debrief.”

**

**2011**

The first thing they did after docking The Mermaid in the marina was eat dinner.

They had eaten dinner together, every day for the past year and she needed a steak. And some expensive red wine. And then a shower that was longer than five minutes.

And then she planned on doing nothing but rolling around in bed with her husband until Waller sent someone to get them. Then maybe another shower before going back to the office.

They hadn’t really talked about their plans but she had a house in Starling and they could figure it out. If internal rumors were true they were getting a satellite frequency communicator TX50 and since they were the good guys she would get to crack it open and figure out how it worked and then make her own mods.

She would need more solder for her gun and maybe a new magnifying headpiece-

“Felicity?” Oliver and the waiter were waiting for her to decide what wine she wanted and she sheepishly smiled and said both.

“Sorry, I’m thinking about this new enhancement- since the sub doesn’t have torpedoes, I was thinking drones. Like a school of fish with a localized EMP. They’d have to fly, of course and then I’d put this new GPS software from this kid I’m trying to steal from STAR Labs-”

Oliver slid the jewelry box across the table at her, “It was my mother’s. I was hoping we could take a few weeks of leave for our honeymoon and then maybe look at some houses. Talk about our plan for next year.”

Felicity put the rings on her finger and smiled, “Well I plan on spending the next three years building the drones now that I passed Waller’s stupid loyalty project. ARGUS is my home now, Babe.”

Oliver stops mid bite into his steak and Felicity should have taken that as a red flag, “What loyalty project?”

“When you’ve worked for ARGUS for two years they give you a top secret project to work on for the next year. Upon successful critique from Waller that gets you into Level Five clearance and your five year contract.”

She had assumed Oliver knew that when they sent him to get her but apparently that was not the case. A year later when his contract was up, she didn’t leave with him because she couldn’t.

**

**2015**

“What do you mean, _couldn’t_?” John asked interrupting her story. Oliver was curious to hear this part too but he was getting drowsy, leaning his head on his arm while Felicity stroked his hair.

“Oliver was injected with a next gen nanite. If I try to leave ARGUS or deviate from plan, they’ll kill him.”

Sobering up quickly, “Wait, what?”

“The yearlong mission wasn’t the submarine. It was you. I had to prove my loyalty to ARGUS by injecting someone I loved with new technology and monitor your progress. Since my parents are gone, they picked you. It’s how I found you on the island, I can track the nanite.”

Oliver’s too drunk to form a coherent thought, but he puts his hands on Felicity’s face and pulls her in close, “I thought it was because you didn’t want kids. That you didn’t love me.”

“I love you. Of course I want your kids.”

Oliver could feel his heart beating in his chest, his palms sweating. He needed to be doing something and the only thing his brain and heart could agree on was picking Felicity up and slamming the door to the Mess shut with his foot on the way back to her bedroom.


	2. John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John "Don't Call me Dig" Diggle

**2008**

There were two things John knew for certain: 1) Andy was dead. 2) Whatever the hell happened to them when their plane went down over China was the least of their worries.

It also made him wish he’d followed his father’s advice and taken swim lessons, floating on his brother’s dead body for a few hours now, and doggy paddling the two of them towards shore was probably the lowest he’d ever been.

He was a cop, he’d always been a cop and going to Thailand with his brother was supposed to be a fun trip. Not a nightmare from hell.

Things weren’t adding up from the get go, Andy was never nervous about anything, but he’d kissed his wife and her pregnant belly ten times in the airport, and when the two of them got settled in, he just stared out the window.

Like he knew the plane was going down.

Finally to shore, John got his brother (and his pack) to the rocky shore and thanked god he could still swim.

Now he just needed water and shelter and hopefully someone came to rescue him.

“Hello?!?” The man waved his arms wildly, coming out of the treeline.

“Thank God, more survivors. My name’s Floyd. Floyd Lawton.”

John shook the man’s hand, grateful he wasn’t alone on the island.

**

**2015**

 “This is weird.” John pointed out, Felicity milling around their lair doing “network” upgrades that looked suspiciously like flirting with Oliver. Badass and former SEAL Team Six member was flirting with a tiny blonde thing about CAT 5 cables. He had known the man for two years and he was smiling and laughing and being just- weird.

She was there the whole time they were on patrol and instead of Oliver taking point, they relied on Felicity’s- skillset, for lack of a better words, back at the base.

He had to stomp down merger talks in the morning and making an appearance at Lyla’s before midnight which was something that rarely happened, if ever.

His second trip to the island was a wakeup call. Deadshot could have his little island of torture and they needed help to take him down. Felicity had a dedicated satellite that tracked all communications near island and after blowing up his ride off the island, they just hoped the bastard would starve there alone.

Starling had other problems, and with the weight of his brother’s death slightly lifted off him, he was ready to really start living.

Knocking on the door, he double-checked his watch and made sure the flowers he’d gotten at the florist didn’t look too dead. If Oliver could make it work, then he really wanted to commit to a good chance with Lyla-

“John.” Lyla’s surprised tone was not a good sign. She had not reacted well when he didn’t show up to work last Monday and things had been weird between them but they could figure it out. Or so he thought until he saw the man slithering out of her bedroom like a damn snake.

“Tommy. Tommy Merlyn. I was just leaving. I’ll call you Lyles.”

There were certain things that he could not control. One of them was his revulsion at someone being comfortable enough with his girlfriend to call her “Lyles”. Two was his knee when he grabbed Tommy Merlyn around the neck and kneed him in the ribs.

The bastard’s pants were still unbuttoned-

“John!”

Merlyn was crawling on the floor, where he belonged.

Lyla put a hand on his arm, “You need to leave. Right now.”

He didn’t know that hearts physically broke. Or that his was even whole to begin with. And that when it happened, you felt like dying. Logically, Lyla had made no commitment to him and he was dodgy at best when it came to their non-work hours and if she wanted to date his competition that was her right.

It didn’t mean he had to like it. Dropping the flowers on Tommy Merlyn’s fat head, he headed to the street. He had a meeting to plan for in the morning, with or without Lyla.

He had known Felicity for two weeks, but when she came into his office with coffee and a basket of muffins (cranberry orange, his favorite) it was like they were old friends.

“Oliver’s probably doing rounds with the security team.”

“I’m here to see you actually. You’re cranky, which makes Ollie cranky, and that woman giving me the death glare is cranky, so I came in on my day off to bring my new friend some muffins.”

John may be new to the politics of business, but Felicity Queen did not strike him as the sort of person who dropped off muffins. Especially if his hunch about wanting a tour of the IT department was correct. J.D., Inc. was small but they had heart. He didn’t want ARGUS anywhere near his company.

But he appreciated the gesture from Felicity and eagerly bit into one of the muffins.

“-John, are you ready to head to the conference room? Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know you were with someone.” Lyla looked absolutely devastated. Good. She wasn’t returning his phone calls so she could suffer.

“Felicity. Felicity Smoak. He’s not with me. Well, physically in this space he is with me.  Not in the sexual way. But I’m with Oliver- that way. As his wife.” Felicity shook Lyla’s hand and then looked to him in shock.

“Oliver? Oliver Queen. Head of Security? _Is married_?”

He can’t help but chuckle at Lyla’s reaction. John is not stupid, her posture instantly relaxes when she had determined that Felicity was not a threat to her. Good. She deserved that five minutes of anxiety.

Oliver walks into his office without knocking, and sits down at the desk that once belonged to his personal assistant. He doesn’t so much notice Felicity, as smell her and his head moves in their direction while he reads the information from his tablet.

Confused, he finally looks up and when he sees Felicity, he smiles.

“Lunch, Ollie?” Felicity asks him holding her arm out expectantly. He’s across the room in two milliseconds mumbling some excuse about lunch plans and being back later.

Mouthing the word, “Ollie?” in a combination of shock and bewilderment, Lyla turned to him and checked her watch, “They know it’s 9AM, right?”

“Oh. He knows.” John responded walking down the hallway towards the conference room.

He was capable of being professional. He was a CEO and had been doing well with balancing his work life nightlife and personal life, and since his personal life didn’t exist anymore he was going to focus on work and- being the Arrow.

Even when Tommy Merlyn walks into his conference room, he keeps his calm.

They talk about their business dealings and the new profit-share arrangement and when the lights go out in the building, the gas can smashing through the conference room, his only thought is of Lyla’s safety.

He can’t see, can’t breathe and his damn partner was getting frisky at an early lunch. Lyla tugs his pant leg and he turns around to see a woman standing over his body before the gas overtakes him.

**

**2013**

He interviewed 47 girls for personal assistant. He was about ready to give up after girl #4 of the day but it was the end of the day and the first fifty was a sign that he could go home and take a power nap before Boot Camp with Oliver Queen, Professional Badass. Then patrolling for five hours and doing the whole thing over again.

“Lyla. Lyla Michaels.”

If he were being honest, the first thing he noticed about Lyla was her shoes. They were some designer he couldn’t name and bright blue. Most of the other girls wore ones that he thought only strippers wore and they were fresh out of college. She had at least a few years on them and her resume showed experience that was at least somewhat relevant to his new business venture.

The second thing he noticed was her legs.

They were nice legs. _Great_ legs.

Snapping himself out of it, he shook her hand and sat down at his desk. She launched into a story about strategic partnerships and her five year plan for the company.

“You know I’m hiring a personal assistant, right?” John asked amused.

“You need an Op Manager and I showed great initiative in coming in now, don’t you think, Johnny? Also I when we sleep together it won’t be because I think you’re going to promote me. I’ll have your job in five years anyway.”

If Oliver were here he’d point out something about celibacy and being a hardass and how indulging is the purest form of evil, but he was a man who’d been stuck on an island for five years without any human contact and he was now very good with his hands.

Putting his hand to his chin he tried to make it seem like he was thinking about the situation.

“And what if I still need an assistant?”

“I’ll be whatever you need me to be, Mr. Diggle.”

Oliver would be mad if he didn’t show up for Boot Camp, but he couldn’t really make himself care.

They talked business strategies over coffee and then when he wakes up on the floor, Lyla curled against his side he couldn’t really complain about anything.

Oliver, class A asshole shows up pounding at his door and while he looked unfazed by Lyla wrapped in his sheets, he was definitely not happy about their situation.

“You didn’t show up to our- meeting and I was worried.” Oliver confessed, “This is a temporary arrangement.”

His pointed look to Lyla as she left, shoes in hand did not go unnoticed. He kissed her cheek anyway.

And at the time John agreed.

**

**2015**

“JOHN!”

Jerking awake, John looked around the interrogation room he was in, his hands and legs bound behind him. He wasn’t sure if they had taken Lyla but he knew that being tied up was not a good thing.

Oliver had tied him to a chair enough times and he made a mental note to thank his friend. Gaining momentum, he hopped the chair up and down a few times before lifting his legs up, his ass hitting the cement floor hard, the chair effectively broken in a few dozen pieces.

Shoving the biggest pieces into the back of his belt, the door opened, a woman standing in front of her.

“Very impressive, Mr. Diggle. The average recruit takes ten minutes to find the rusty nail on the floor and then another five to free themselves.”

He didn’t need the introduction to know she was Amanda Waller. He also wasn’t her recruit. Which he told her. Repeatedly.

Oliver was not exactly a Chatty Cathy about his time at ARGUS but what he had been able to figure out on his own was that Amanda Waller was the devil incarnate and getting into bed with them was a colossal mistake. In hindsight he might be talking about meeting and losing Felicity to her, but Oliver was generally a good judge of character.

“Waller, I’m _not_ your recruit.”

“I beg to differ, Mr. Diggle. I went to great lengths to grace you with my presence and my 10 million dollar submarine to fetch you from enemy territory. We need to have a conversation about the nature of our relationship.”

John couldn’t help but pace. He hadn’t gotten a good view of the door and wasn’t sure if they checked his fake tooth for his GPS locator. A broken chair leg was not going to get him into the hallway and he’d rather dig out his own eye than be in the room with her a minute longer.

“We have no relationship. I leave you alone, you leave me alone. Thanks for the rescue. I’ll send a fruit basket.”

Waller throws a few files on the ground and then leaves.

Curiosity getting the better of him, the first was his brother’s redacted military record. The second was picture of Felicity kissing Oliver’s cheek while they ate ice cream outside of J.D.,Inc. The third was a picture of Lyla’s favorite restaurant- the one outside of her parents’ house in National City. Peeking at the fourth file, he’d had enough.

There were five more files and he couldn’t even begin to guess what was in them.

John went to the door and pounded on it, the guard letting him out and motioning towards Waller’s office. Only a complete nut job would have their office so close to an interrogation room.

He wasn’t so naïve that he thought she would burn the files, but wasn’t stupid enough to not ask for anything in return.

“I stay in Starling. I protect the city. If you need me on a case-by-case basis, I will consider flying out. I can’t speak for Oliver, that’s one bridge I can’t fix for you. I’m not your patsy, I’m not your copout. And finally, most importantly, you leave Deadshot alone on that island, no extradition, no judge, no jury. Those are my terms.”

“I find those terms to be acceptable.”

He expected Waller to shoot him up with a nanite or knock him unconscious, but she hands him a Visitor’s Pass and tells him she’ll call when he’s needed. Then he has ten minutes to respond before she comes to _fetch_ him. Like a goddamn dog.

His car is parked out front and he passes Felicity’s office, which is both in a corner and very large with an “Out to Lunch” sign digitally embossed on the door. Her title is too long to pronounce and he wasn’t sure it was in English, but he slides into the room easily.

The walls were all black, but she had picked the most colorful stapler, office accessories and even her chair was bright green.

The most striking thing besides the abstract art that probably cost over a million dollars behind her chair, was large framed photo of Oliver on her desk. It was intimate, they were in bed and he was smiling at the camera.

He looked so- happy.

Which was definitely not how he remembered his friend.

**

**2013**

“Again!”

Shooting moving targets blindfolded was the dumbest idea Oliver could come up with, and his dumb ass put the blindfold on and drew his bow. Shooting arrows, blisters, training, that was all easy. Dealing with asshole of the year, Oliver Queen, was another story.

He slept in the lair, which was creepy upon itself and they had talked for a total of ten minutes about non-work related things in the past six months.

“Don’t you ever get tired of being a dick?” John raised his bow to where Oliver’s voice was coming from, deeply satisfied when it hit him in the arm. Shoving the blindfold off, he went to put his gear away and let Oliver deal with his own bloody arm.

“You’re the one who’d rather spend his free time eating burgers with that Lyla woman.”

He had met Lyla. And if he didn’t know any better, he’d say Oliver was jealous. Maybe he was gay.

“Burgers are food. And Lyla is my COO. Eating together is a natural business function.” John lied, trying not to picture the very creative ways Lyla was helping him outside of work.

Oliver did that “Sure. Whatever” pout he had perfected from his days as a rich kid, and pulled the arrow out of his arm.

Sitting down at the computer that looked like it was out of a sci-fi movie, he saw a piece of tape stuck to the monitor. Picking at it with his fingers, it came loose and it was attached to a picture of a woman. Smiling at the camera. (Assumedly) Naked.

“Who is this? She’s _hot_.”

“That’s my sister.” Oliver lied trying to tug the picture out of his hands.

“I’ve seen your sister. This woman is not your sister.” Thea Queen was a tiny brunette thing with gangly legs and long hair. “And if you had a naked picture of your sister taped to the bottom of your computer, then we really need to have a talk about you going to jail.”

Oliver finally weaseled the picture out of his hands and put the picture into his back pocket. Only a former Navy Seal could lie so blatantly about a former lover and then make a tourniquet for his bleeding arm at the same time.

“She’s gone.”

“She must have meant a lot to you. I’m sorry.” John apologized, patting his friend on the arm. Police chatter was quiet and the computer hadn’t found anything about Deadshot since they turned it on.

“Now we can go get some beers to loosen you up, because tomorrow we’re finding somewhere for you to live that isn’t this creepy basement. We’ll get you a nice slum in the glades and that’ll be that.”

Oliver actually joined him for drinks that night and John made a toast to the women that drove them crazy. Oliver would drink to that.

Of course at the time he thought the woman in the photograph was dead.

**

**2015**

Lyla is waiting for him when he comes home. She’s asleep in the hallway outside of his apartment, her shirt wet from crying. He didn’t have to listen to the news to figure out that ARGUS had covered up his abduction, but even if she was sleeping with Merlyn, it was nice to know that she still cared.

Picking her body up, he slid his key into the door and deposited Lyla on her side of the bed.

Showering, putting away the dishes and making sure everything was locked up.

Lying down on the bed in his clothes, Lyla moved in her sleep to cuddle against him and he wasn’t in the mood to be comforted. The more he worked with ARGUS, and the new wave of whackjobs flooding the city, he knew now, more than ever that she needed to be safe.

With or without him.

**

**2008**

“What did you do, before the island?”

Between the two of them they had a makeshift tent and enough seat cushions to make the world’s narrowest cots, and if the nice weather kept up they’d have no problem waiting out their rescue.

“I used to be rich. I gave it all up to make my own mark on the world. Joined the army. I was on my way to Gotham after a business trip. I’m in consulting.” Floyd explained scraping the remainder of the fish guts out of the leaves they were using for plates.

John paused over the man’s words- there’s no way he’d fly to National City, then to Gotham unless something shifty was going on. They’d managed to catch a few fish and Floyd had identified which water was safe to drink.

Not that John was going to confess that he and Andy had just gone hiking. He knew how to cover his tracks and had slipped one of the sharpened sticks in his sleeve if necessary.

 “You?”

“I’m a cop. National City. Detective for seven years now.”

Floyd’s demeanor changed and while he had been helpful in burying his brother after they’d made camp, something was definitely wrong now. His instincts were telling him something was wrong, and he always trusted his gut. Always.

The two of them ate in an awkward silence, and went to sleep.

Diggle grabbed his brother’s gear and left camp that night. Even if they were getting rescued, he was going to stay away from that creep.

Cue to three weeks later when the bastard stabbed him, and his instincts were right. There was plenty of game on the island for them to eat yet the bastard had a sharp rock and threw it at his face. He'd have a scar for the rest of his life, he was sure.

Thankfully, his brother was prepared for everything, and while inventorying all of the gear, he gave a silent thanks for the knife stashed inside the canteen. He had water, a weapon and he would wait out the crazy bastard- how long could live on an island without any supplies?

When the fishing boat found him four years later, he promised himself he'd never underestimate anyone ever again.

**


	3. Felicity Queen, ARGUS Director of Technology Operations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity Queen (nee Smoak)

**2008**

The first time she met Oliver, her mother had just been buried.

She couldn’t go to the funeral with her black hair, she would have hated that. So she dragged herself out of bed to fly home, dyed her blonde and helped her father pack up their life into cardboard boxes. Their relationship had always been strained since she was born, her father doing her best to bridge the gap between the two of them. It didn’t work. There were days she forgot she even had a mother, but her death was not planned or even remotely expected for another 30 years-

Her father held her hand during the service and she hugged him close before his security detail was there to whisk him back to Switzerland or wherever he was visiting.

“I need a minute with my daughter, Frank.”

He kissed both of her cheeks, and though things with her parents had always been loving, he had spent most of his time overseas with her and when she died- he would focus on work instead of feeling anything, and Felicity wished she could do the same.

“You are the brightest young woman I’ve ever met, and though people frequently doubt my ability to love, know that I loved your mother very much. And I love you very much. I apologize if in the forthcoming months if I’m- distant.”

She liked to think of her father like Spock. Too logical for his own good. Tears streaming down her face, she nodded and hugged him close, “I’ll call if I need anything. And don’t let the suits talk you into anything you don’t want to do. They need you, not the other way around.”

He kissed her cheeks again and turned to meet his driver Frank.

She had gone home and cried, and as petty and low as it was, she wished someone was there to comfort her in the ways her father couldn’t. Thankfully Tony from the pizza place down the street was always there for her and she went to answer the door-

The most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in real life was there, “Is Ms. Smoak home?”

 Her first thought was, of course Tony got fired because this man was gorgeous and his SUV was nice and probably faster than Tony and his bicycle. Poor kid was saving for college and there’s no way he’d make it now if gorgeous men were replacing him.

“I’m Ms. Smoak, but I go by Felicity.”

If he noticed her face was red from crying, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t say much of anything actually, and while he had no pizza, he did have a box with a thumbprint scanner on it. Tony finally showed up and while she had made several attempts to get him to sit down, he growled at Tony until he left.

Once she got the box opened, it was a job offer from something called ARGUS, something the darknet had been whispering about for months. The man, who had yet to be introduced, finally sat down with her pizza in his hands and waited for her to read through the materials.

He ate half of her black olives and green pepper pizza, staring at her so intently, she wasn’t sure if he was sizing her up or undressing her with his eyes. She voted for both. Both was good.

If he was a recruiter, he was the worst recruiter on the face of the planet. Maybe he was new. Putting her glasses on, she poured the man a glass of wine and went over their proposal. Upon acceptance of her offer she was to attach the thumbprint scanner to her cellphone and give them a blood sample.

That was ridiculous. And unsanitary.

Grabbing an alcohol swab from her bathroom and her tool kit from her desk, she took about their thumbprint scanner and made it into two different devices. Her thumbprint would be needed to uploaded securely, without the smudge of blood.

And her blood would need to be cross matched to medical records that were “secure” so she hacked her medical files and sent them via encrypted email to the IP address the device was secured to. Wiping the blood off the needle, she pricked the man’s finger and that jolted him back to reality.

“I wasn’t sure if you were sleeping here, but the documentation said I was to have you drive me to the airport at 8PM tomorrow.”

Felicity handed him a pillow and a spare blanket and swiped his keys to get the moving boxes out of his trunk. The dog tags in his glove box read: Queen, Oliver. Armed with a name, she placed the boxes under her arm and hiked back up the three flights of stairs.

He’s stripping when she comes back into her apartment, the boxer briefs not doing much to cover his obvious erection.

Which she did not look at.

He sat on the couch, still in his weird daze, when she thought maybe he had PTSD or something.

“Mr. Queen?”

His head turns and he looks at her, really looks at her again and he smiled. She sits with him on the couch until he snaps out of it, the two of them watching Project Runway. In the morning he makes her breakfast and helps her pack the things she’d need immediately, while someone named Maseo would be coming to get the rest of her things the following week. Thanking Mr. Queen, he stopped her, his arm encircling her wrist like he’d done the motion a million times before.

“My name’s Oliver.”

“Felicity. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She blushed, kissing his jaw as a thank you for carrying her boxes to the car.

**

**2015**

Felicity wondered what the hell had happened to her life in the past three weeks.

After her _actual job_ where she stopped bad guys, she went to a musty basement and helped stop _different_ bad guys and then she went home with her husband she hadn’t seen in years and then worked out any residual aggression with him between the sheets.

And Oliver had a lot of aggression. As evidenced by his hand down her skirt before they even got in the door of her apartment.

“I have not slept properly in three weeks. Tonight we’re sleeping.”

Oliver nods his approval before bending over to suck her neck. He was strong enough to lift her up by the crotch, his other arm going under her armpit, in some masculine show of authority that she did not find attractive.

Okay, maybe a little attractive.

Oliver laid her down on the bed, removing her skirt in the process, his hand coming out of her panties to unbutton her blouse, kissing his way up her stomach until it was off, rocking her body side to side to slip if off.

Feeling herself already falling asleep, she snuggled underneath the covers he wrapped around her and then promptly screeched as Oliver’s head went between her legs.

“Go back to sleep.” Oliver encouraged her from under the covers.

Frowning, she maneuvered herself under the covers with him, her feet resting against the headboard, their foreheads touching. It was dark and warm and he was too beautiful to exist. Even in low lighting when she was exhausted.

“Are we okay?” Felicity whispered, “And don’t just say yes because you want to get laid.”

Oliver chuckled at that, but put a hand to her face, “Yeah. We’re okay.”

“Then why haven’t you moved out of that rat hole you call an apartment and come back home?” Felicity blurted. She had kept everything the way he’d left it when he left, the spoons were still on the island because he was the cook he could have it where he wanted, and they had spent five months picking out a house in a good neighborhood and they’d just moved in when he was gone.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth about the nanites?”

There were two things she cared about in her short time on this earth. Technology was one of them. Oliver was the other. How do you tell the person you love, your husband, that you experimented on them while you were also promising to love and cherish them? The guilt kept her up at night, and even sleeping under the bright green comforter he picked out of her was her only solace.

“I think- I think I was punishing myself. I’d turn the nanites on and you’d be running or with John and I’d cry, my stupid girl tears, and thought maybe I deserved it. And you know what, I did deserve it, but not anymore. And I hate that you sleep in that rat den three nights a week, and that you’re running around the city with a vigilante and I want your spoons on the island and your wet towel on the bed. I don’t want to be dating, I want to be your wife.”

Oliver nods once.

“I’ll move my things tomorrow.” He kisses her, much too chastely for her liking.

When he cuddles against her and falls asleep on her stomach, she hopes things were going in a new direction.

**

**2009**

She noticed him lingering near the coffee machine.

Moving into her office had been an adjustment, but she brightened the place up with office accessories and he had been stirring his coffee for at least five minutes. Catching his eye in the reflection of the microwave, she motioned for him to come over.

He made a “who me?” look before crossing the hallway into her office.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Felicity smirked. She was not used to being the one who was calm and collected.  Not that she was calm and collected because all they’d done for days is smile at each other, but it was Friday and they were off from the weekend.

“Do you wanna get dinner?” Oliver was shaking the poor thing.

“Are we going to talk during this dinner?”

Felicity was teasing but he blanched visibly. Stepping around her desk, she put a hand over his much larger ones and threw her purse over one shoulder. “It’s okay. We can talk over breakfast.”

What Oliver lacked in words he made up for in other ways.

_Several times._

**

**2011**

By the time he re-signs his contract with ARGUS, they had personally stopped five terrorists, two former government employees and he had a key to her apartment.

“It’s time, Ms. Smoak.” Waller commented, watching Oliver leave her office with the garbage from their lunch.

“Understood.” Felicity nodded, signing all of the necessary paperwork. She meant to break things off with Oliver months ago, to avoid this very situation but the time was upon them sooner than she expected.

Nanites were something she and Cisco were working on but to have a live trial she would need to pick a live test subject. Her mother was dead, her father was too high up on their metaphorical ‘Do not touch’ list.

She had no friends besides her co-workers so during his physical, they inject him with the nanites and she cries herself to sleep that night. She had lie to him while he was packing for his new assignment, when she talked about her new project at work and most importantly the night before they shipped out and he stopped by her apartment-

The submarine was launched and she walked the ship port to starboard, front to back.

When he came on board, smiling his stupid beautiful smile, she knew she could never tell him the truth. To put him at risk, to leave Thea without a brother, that was something unforgivable. She didn’t want to live in a world where they weren’t in love and it was selfish and horrible but as they swam in the Sea of Japan naked, Oliver holding up a stupid clam he stuffed a ring into, she was sure she was making the right decision.

(Maybe 99.5% sure)

**

**2015**

Swearing to anyone who was listening up in the clouds or under her feet, she pulled the gun out of the spare drawer, and headed for Oliver’s motorcycle. Those two idiots were going to get themselves killed and the whole point of having her at the desk was to watch their backs.

Not one woman rescue missions.

She’d already saved their asses once.

Slamming her foot down she broke her heel and ran her hands over her face to smudge her makeup.

“Help! Help me.”

The guard at the door put an arm around her to help her walk to the door and she couldn’t help but smirk at his ‘chivalry’. All intel pointed to them trafficking girls out of the city and Oliver and John had been dark for twenty minutes.

Kicking her shoe up into his face, she grabbed his gun from his side holster, ejecting the clip before elbowing him in the face and then back into his ribs. He moaned about his bleeding nose a little too much, giving her the opportunity to spin around and really break it before grabbing the zipties out of her pocket spinning him around and locking his wrists together before the body hit the ground.

“Amateur hour.” Felicity turned up her nose before tying his shoelaces together and propping his body up behind the dumpster. Switching her heels out for the sneakers she left on the bike, she mentally prepared herself for the breach, suddenly thankful that Amanda was so insistent that her Head of IT went through Advanced Training.

Gun up, she nudged the front door open, making sure no one was in her line of sight before hugging the wall and entering the cliché warehouse.

The catwalk was deserted, but she followed the sound of voices down a flight of stairs.

They were loading the girls into the back of a Big Belly Burger truck and she counted at least four of them.

“Fuck.”

Someone swept her feet out from underneath her and she was ready to strike if not for the very familiar hand groping her ass.

“What part of ‘radio silent’ was hard to understand?” Oliver hissed pulling her behind some metal equipment. If the food wrappers were any indication, Dumb and Dumber had been crouched there for a long time. Long enough for one of them to send her a text message that they were find and did not need her heroic, kickass rescue mission.

“What part of ‘be home for dinner’ was unclear?” She countered, pointing to her watch.

“The part where you cooked?” _Dig_ joked. He apparently hated the nickname, and it was going to stick. It wasn’t her fault his name was Diggle.

“Whatever you say, Dig.” Felicity grumbled. “Why aren’t you guys kicking ass, taking names, etc. etc.”

Diggle moved his ginormous body backwards and revealed someone else crouched behind the equipment. The dark haired man didn’t even bother looking at her, his eyes were fixed on the girls being lined up into the trucks.

“You’re Malcom Merlyn.”

Billionaire recluse Malcom Merlyn. He had not been seen in public in at least five months, his son Tommy had been running the company for the past year.  Ever since his daughter disappeared from her dorm room at Harvard.

“They’ve got to be idiots if they accidentally kidnapped Anna Merlyn.” Felicity muttered. Watching the men pack up their things and head for the front for the front of the truck.

Felicity wasn’t exactly sure how they knew what to do, but John and Oliver did some grunting before they sprung into action. Oliver went to the front, breaking the padlock on the back of the truck.

John took up position back up on the catwalk and as the engine roared to life, two arrows in the tires. Waving her hands towards the girls they ran across the warehouse towards her and Felicity laid down some cover fire before the men called for backup.

“We need them alive. They need to pay for their crimes.”

Felicity growled but started aiming for arms instead of their heads and by the time the police showed up, they had saved fifteen girls, Anna Merlyn included.

Leaning against Oliver’s SUV, the three of them watched the paramedics take the girls away, Rebecca Merlyn sprinting out of her town car, her son Tommy on her heels.

“Makes you miss your folks, doesn’t it?” John commented dryly watching his frenemy hug his little sister.

“Our mothers are both dead and our fathers care more about working than they do about their children.” Felicity responded, “Come on let’s go home before that cop catches the two of you at a crime scene again.”

Speaking of the devil, Detective Sara Lance showed up at the crime scene and glared disapprovingly at them. Lance’s were royalty in Starling- Sara, was a police officer, her sister Dinah was the ‘It’ girl for her lifestyle magazine, _Canary_ , their mother was a hedge fund manager and the father was Police Chief.

“Suspicious and Suspiciouser.” Detective Lance pointed between the two of them crossing her arms to stand directly in her line of vision, “You’re new.”

“Felicity Queen. I’m Suspciouser’s Wife.” Felicity introduced herself, shaking the cops’ hand.

“Shame. You’re cute. Are we gonna do this song and dance where you claim to just happen to be here, or can I get back to my crime scene now?”

John made a bowing motion towards the crime scene and the three of them headed back to the SUV.

 

**

**2012**

“Mr. Queen’s employment with us is over next week.”

While she knew Waller wanted her to exploit her relationship with her husband, she had never pushed. Until now. Especially if she had the balls to approach her outside of work while said husband was parking the car.

“He is a valuable asset to our team. Training, Instinct. He has been invaluable to the operation at Lian Yu.”

Felicity paused, not sure of what to say to her boss. “He’s never really, belonged to ARGUS like I have.”

“Certainly you must talk about your promotion to Tech Ops.” Waller had the whole conversation timed and knew exactly how long it would take Oliver to reach the stairs outside of the building from the parking ramp.

“He thinks I hack for a living. It’s sweet.”

Her drones would be ready by the end of the month and after that they were field testing them on Lian Yu. Apparently acquiring this Deadshot person was of the utmost importance and he was rumored to have high value assets on the island with him.

Oliver comes bounding up the staircase on cue, her briefcase under his arm. Completely ignoring Waller, he kissed her cheek and handed the bag over before heading up the stairs to the security office.

“You know the protocols for when an asset is no longer an asset. And might I remind you, Mrs. Queen, that you still have three years in your contract with us. You either get him to sign or he no longer has the security clearance to be your husband. Take that information as you will.”

Amanda walked away, her heels clicking.

Felicity knew the facts. She knew that Oliver would never forgive her for staying and she knew she couldn’t leave.

They ate lunch together like they always did, and Felicity tried to tell him. Then at their training session at the gym, and then when they were in the briefing room. Even on the car ride home. But the words cannot physically leave her mouth.

Especially when he does such a good job at leaving her breathless.

Waking up, she starts to tell him, when his sister shows up sobbing.

He calls in to work and apparently some drug dealer tried to- extract payment in other ways -and she’d never had a family, let alone a sister-in-law she’d never met, but something about having to go to work when an 18-year-old is sobbing in your husband’s arms really got your priorities in order.

Coming home from work, Oliver has gone to kill the drug dealer, which is a whole other disaster, Thea clutching onto her side. She’s mad at her and mad at him and she snaps.

“You had to know that it would come to this. Oliver kills people for a living. So either you want this scumbag dead or you wouldn’t have come here. You have so much life to live, Thea and wasting it on partying and drugs and having Oliver fix all of your problems is no way to live. That man’s life is on your conscious, not his.”

She expects Thea to lash out, to cry harder. She nods, in a way she’d seen Oliver do countless times.

 “He really loves you, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.”

She wasn’t stupid enough to think that Oliver would stay at ARGUS for her. He’d had an amazingly shitty life and he would cling to normalcy and happiness more than anything. And when he comes back from killing/maiming/harassing said drug dealer, Thea is asleep on the couch.

“Are you mad?”

“No.” It was the truth.

The next day when he goes in to face punishment from Waller, he ends up quitting a week early. Waller literally locked him out of the building and by the time she found out, he was being escorted out by men he’d trained.

“Come with me.”

She couldn’t. Because she loved him enough that she wanted him to live.

“I can’t.”

The glass security door closes between them, Oliver pleading with her in the lobby. That image would haunt her for the next three years. He turns, his head hanging and when she gets home, his stuff is gone.

Looking at the calendar hanging from the fridge, the sobs start when she realized the date: September 5th, the day her mother died.

**

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own arrow and make no profit from this work of fiction


End file.
